


first,

by kythen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Friends to Lovers, KuroDai Week, KuroDai Week 2017, M/M, No Drama, Non-Chronological, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 19:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10837446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kythen/pseuds/kythen
Summary: Kurodai Week Day 1:First Meeting /Next TimeDaichi and Kuroo meet and fall in love along the way. It's as simple as that.





	first,

**Author's Note:**

> I know I filled the exact same prompt for the exact same day but bear with me.

_vii._

"Can I kiss you?" Kuroo blurts out.

His eyes are searching, over-bright, reflecting the glow from the beat-up television set before them. The glow washes over the rest of his face, bathing it in every other colour as the movie keeps playing, but somehow, Daichi knows that Kuroo's face is burning bright red under it all. He is trembling, or maybe Daichi is—it is hard to tell when the both of them are wrapped up together in the same blanket on the sofa, their shoulders pressed against each other.

Daichi means to say "yes", a proper reply to the proper question Kuroo just asked, but Daichi is already leaning over, his lips meeting Kuroo's in the middle, his fingers closing around Kuroo's to draw him nearer.

\---

_iv._

Tokyo is big and sprawling and loud, and the only thing that keeps Daichi from getting lost is, unfortunately, Kuroo.

The Nekoma captain— _ex-_ captain, Daichi reminds himself forcefully because this isn't high school any longer—walks before him, leading the way and turning around occasionally to make sure that Daichi is still with him. The number of times he does this annoys Daichi because it isn't as if Daichi will get swept up in the crowd like a kid if he isn't careful. Sure, he is used to the wide, open roads of Miyagi with only the occasional rumble of traffic, but this doesn't mean that he can't adapt. He has to, seeing that Tokyo will be his home for the next four years, and possibly a long unforeseeable future.

Daichi kind of wants to go home already.

"We're here." Kuroo stops before an apartment block, turning on his heel with an elaborate gesture. He grins.

"Apartment 402?" Daichi asks him, scanning the rows of apartments, trying to make out the tiny numbers on the doorplates.

"That's the one," Kuroo says, walking over to tug at Daichi's luggage. "There's no elevator so we're going to have to lug this all the way up."

Daichi grimaces and he lets Kuroo help him carry his luggage all the way up four flights of creaky steps. Kuroo leaves him at the landing, making straight for apartment 402 with familiar steps and pulling out a key holder at the door. There are two keys on it and he picks one off, tossing it to Daichi as he rolls his luggage along.

"Home, sweet home," Kuroo proclaims as he unlocks the door and switches on the lights.

Daichi heaves his luggage into the narrow entryway, a wave of homesickness washing over him as he takes his first look at his new home. The door shuts behind him and a hand touches his back, not meaning to startle but doing just that anyway.

Kuroo drops his hand, walking past Daichi into the living room. "That's my room" —he points at a door with a fish-shaped nameplate on it spelling out Kuroo's name— "and that's yours."

Daichi's door is bare and he nods before wheeling his luggage in, not trusting himself to speak with the homesick sick feeling still in him. His room isn't much, just a bed, a desk, and a closet, all that a university student would need for the coming days. He sits on the bed and the springs creak under him, too loud in the empty room.

"Hey, Sawamura," Kuroo says, leaning against the doorframe and Daichi glances up at him, startling again and wincing right after that. He was never this twitchy in Miyagi.

Kuroo tosses something small over and Daichi catches it out of instinct more than anything, his hands fumbling on the blunt edges. It is a nameplate, the same size as Kuroo's fish-shaped one, only that this one is in the shape of a rice ball. Daichi looks up again, his hands stilling on the nameplate.

"It reminded me of you," Kuroo says with a grin, "eating your way through the BBQ on the last day of training camp. I think you single-handedly caused a rice shortage that day."

"I wasn't the one who tried grilling fish over the fire and stank up the whole place," Daichi retorts.

"It was _delicious_. You were totally missing out," Kuroo replies, pushing himself off the doorframe. "Come on, get out of here and I'll show you what you were missing out on that day."

"Please tell me you aren't going to grill fish in our apartment," Daichi says, standing up and following Kuroo out of the room, slipping the nameplate in his pocket. He'll write his name on it later and stick it up before he sleeps.

"Ha," Kuroo snorts, raising his eyebrows over his shoulder as he leads the way to the kitchen, "what makes you think I haven't already done that."

\---

_ii._

If Daichi has to do one more lap of flying falls, he might just give in to the urge to punch Kuroo right in his smirking face.

He had sensed it in their first match against Nekoma, that Kuroo Tetsurou was going to be a huge pain in the ass. During matches, he is a menace, positioning himself just right for blocks and receives, his one-man time difference attacks messing up their rhythm. After matches, he gets worse, smirking at Daichi as he leads Karasuno in a lap of flying falls across the court.

"You sure like your penalties, don't you, Sawamura?" Kuroo has the audacity to say as Daichi drops into a flying fall and Daichi slaps the floor harder than necessary, visualising Kuroo's face under his palm.

After he rises from the floor, Kuroo is still watching him, turning away with great exaggeration and a parting smirk as Daichi glares at him.

"I've never seen Daichi this pissed off for so long," he hears Asahi's worried murmur behind him.

"It's the Nekoma captain," Suga whispers back and Daichi can hear the amusement in his voice. "He just knows how to rub Daichi the wrong way."

"Intentionally?"

"Probably. But Daichi's kind of dumb for falling for it all the time."

"Get ready for the next match!" Daichi turns around and roars at his team, turning his glare on Asahi and Suga. "We're going to win the next one!"

"We're up against Nekoma next," Suga tells him, unfazed, and that sends a shiver of excitement through the team. While all the teams here pose a massive challenge to them, there is just something about facing off against Nekoma, their fated rivals, that makes the idea of Nationals feel all the more real.

"Good," Daichi says grimly, looking out across the court and fixing his gaze on Kuroo's back. "We'll beat them too. We can't be the only ones doing penalties all the time."

\---

_v._

They don't have all that much time for volleyball now that they are in their third year of university.

Kuroo disappears for hours, sometimes days at length, cooping himself up in the labs at the science block. Daichi knows where to find Kuroo when he has been gone for too long, mustering up his last bit of strength to drag Kuroo back home to a bed and a decent meal. It isn't that Daichi has it any easier than Kuroo with his endless number of papers to write, but it is just that Daichi remembers what human beings need for survival better than Kuroo.

"Sleep," Daichi orders him after Kuroo chews his way absently through a poorly prepared meal of rice, instant miso soup, and canned fish. Daichi had stocked up on canned saury in five different flavours the moment he saw it on sale, even though he knows that Kuroo whines about it not being as good as fresh saury. It is not as if Kuroo is in any position to be cooking fish anyway.

"I have reports to do," Kuroo mumbles, pushing around the last bit of rice in his bowl, his eyelids heavy.

"After you sleep," Daichi tells him, taking his utensils and dishes out of his hands and dumping them in the sink. "Not at the table," he adds as Kuroo's eyelids slide shut, his head drooping down towards the table.

Kuroo gets up from the table, his joints cracking in a way that has Daichi wincing in sympathy, his feet shuffling as he makes his way out of the kitchen, zombie-like. Daichi clears the rest of the table, eyeing the filled sink with great reluctance. _Later,_ he convinces himself as he washes his hands and tries not to make eye contact with the dirty dishes. Like Kuroo, he just needs a quick nap and then he will be ready to be responsible again. Maybe.

Daichi leaves the kitchen for his room, yawning widely. But he doesn't quite make it there, stopping in the living room to stare down at their sofa.

Kuroo is curled up on the sofa, his mouth hanging open as he snores softly, already fast asleep. He is too tall to fit properly and his feet dangle off the edge, his knees folded in against his body. He looks uncomfortable and Daichi sighs, leaving Kuroo to complain about his body aches after he wakes.

But Daichi does return briefly to throw a blanket over him, tugging a corner over Kuroo's bare feet before he retreats to his room to nap on a proper bed.

\---

_iii._

Kuroo keeps looking for him in between practice matches. Daichi knows now to fend him off with gritted teeth and forced smiles, biting back when Kuroo teases him about the number of penalties Karasuno has been steadily racking up.

But it isn't always like that, all throughout the day, and there are moments when Kuroo lays off the teasing and just... talks.

It is like that now with the both of them stretched out on the hill, watching as the sun dips into the horizon and turns the sky a warm sunset orange. Daichi could fall asleep right here and now, if not for Kuroo's voice keeping him just out of unconsciousness.

After their last penalty for the day, Daichi hadn't bothered to move as the rest of his team left for food or the showers, lying back against the grass and doing his best impression of a dead body. Suga had nudged him with a foot on his way past him and Daichi hadn't so much as twitched.

"Daichi, you're gonna get bitten by bugs," Suga had warned him before heading back in.

There were bugs, which Daichi had swatted off with a lazy hand, but there was also Kuroo, who came climbing up the hill in search of Daichi. He brought Daichi's water bottle along so Daichi decided that he could stay. It wasn't like he had any energy left to shoo something as big as Kuroo away anyway.

Besides, if Daichi was being honest with himself, Kuroo had become good company over the course of the training camp. He teased just as much, but he was also sensible enough, as long as Bokuto was not around, talking about volleyball tactics or school or just plain old gossip about their juniors. It was nice to be around him, which is why Daichi doesn't look for reasons to leave Kuroo or chase him off.

"Are you going to make it back to the gym?" Kuroo asks him, amused. He still smirks, but Daichi had gotten used to it somewhere along the way.

"Yes," Daichi answers with his eyes closed, "eventually."

He hears rustling beside him and he opens his eyes a crack to see Kuroo settling down next to him, looking up into the sky. "You know, maybe you've got the right idea here. It is kind of nice."

"It's the optimal recovery position after penalties."

"You would know," Kuroo teases.

"I thought it would be nice to share, seeing that your team racked up the most number of penalties after us."

"Are you always this kind?"

"Not as kind as you, from what I've heard from our first years."

Kuroo laughs and they lapse into a peaceful kind of silence. Daichi knows that they should be getting up soon for self-practice or dinner or whatever it is, but it is getting harder to leave this spot on the hill.

Training camp is ending and soon it will be the Spring Inter-Highs, followed closely by Nationals. Then graduation and university and the big unknown. Becoming one with the grass and the ground instead of getting up and facing all of that is beginning to look more appealing to Daichi all of a sudden.

"The next time you come back to Tokyo," Kuroo starts, interrupting his thoughts.

"It'll be for Nationals," Daichi says firmly.

"Of course," Kuroo replies, just as confidently. "But if you ever find yourself in Tokyo for a non-Nationals reason and you need someone to show you around, I just wanted to say that you could always give me a call. Don't be a stranger after high school ends, Sawamura."

There are universities in Tokyo that Daichi is considering and it would be nice to have someone he knows around. A friend.

"I'll take you up on that," Daichi says.

\---

_vi._

It is four years after their days of high school volleyball when Daichi realises that he isn't going to leave Tokyo anytime soon. He has a new job lined up for him after graduation and he still pays rent for the apartment that Kuroo and him live in. Kuroo is thinking of furthering his studies but he works part-time jobs to put in his share of the rent, as well as to contribute to food and groceries and other miscellaneous things needed for two young adults sharing the same living space.

Rental DVDs are one such need, especially on Friday nights when both of their schedules are free. It has become something of a habit, developed over years of living together, for the both of them to marathon movies long into the night on Fridays. Sometimes, if the movie is particularly bad, they run commentary about it or talk about other things going on in their lives. It isn't just about volleyball or school anymore when the world has gotten so much bigger after high school.

In a way, Daichi is glad that Kuroo is here, that he had extended a hand to Daichi before Karasuno and Nekoma went their separate ways and became fond memories of the past. The first years then would be in university or even working now. He hears from them sometimes but they don't get to meet up that often, seeing that most of the old Karasuno team have split up to pursuit their own futures.

Daichi makes his way out of the kitchen and into the living room, navigating the dark by the glow of the television screen. When he reaches the sofa, Kuroo is huddled down on it with a blanket, which he peels back as Daichi sits down on the sofa. He doesn't mind when Kuroo leans against him as the movie plays, his head fully on Daichi's shoulder before half of it is even over.

It isn't a bad movie this time, despite being some no name sci-fi film Kuroo had picked out at random, but Daichi finds himself being distracted anyway. Kuroo's hair tickles his neck, his munching loud in his ear and his shoulder one big warm spot against Daichi's side. His hand had fallen into Daichi's lap at some point of time and he is one tiny movement away from sitting right on top of Daichi.

This is life for him now, Daichi realises as he looks at the television screen without really watching it, tied up inextricably in Kuroo's life. He has known him for five years and lived with him for four, and while that is an impressive or unimpressive number of years depending on who he asks, he can't imagine how life would be without Kuroo by his side.

"Daichi?" Kuroo says, warm and soft against his side, bundled up in most of the blanket. He has eaten all of the popcorn that he was supposed to share with Daichi and he gets the empty bag out of the way, somewhat guiltily, as he turns to look at him.

If he meets Kuroo's gaze now, Daichi thinks that Kuroo might be able to guess his thoughts, reading it right off his face like he has been able to do at times.

Daichi breathes in, his chest rising minutely. He feels steady, grounded by a certainty that whatever comes next, he wants it to happen.

"Daichi?" Kuroo asks again. The hand in Daichi's lap touches his thigh, warmth radiating off his fingertips.

Daichi turns and faces Kuroo.

\---

_i._

"I'm Kuroo Tetsurou."

"Sawamura Daichi."

Their hands meet in the middle, clasping each other firmly in a good handshake before letting go.

Daichi looks into the eyes of the Nekoma captain, Kuroo Tetsurou, and refuses to be intimidated. He has to tilt his head up slightly, which annoys him a bit, but it doesn't override the feelings of excitement and anticipation rising up in his chest.

Kuroo smiles, or smirks really, his face carefully pleasant. He opens his mouth to address his team at the same time that Daichi does, just as wary of the rival captain by his side as Daichi is, and their voices overlap as they give the command to go.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Find me here: [tumblr](http://kythen.tumblr.com) / [twitter](http://twitter.com/catcrowcalls)


End file.
